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Old 05-08-2008, 02:23 PM   #16
Milawe
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: USA
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Re: Orson Scott Card obliterates J.K. Rowling

I definitely disagree with this. In my eyes, Card is a much more successful writer than Rowling is/was, and I highly, highly doubt that he has an ounce of jealousy for Rowlings. I have absolutely no jealousy for her myself, and she is far, far, far more successful at making money and publishing books than I am. Selling more books in no way makes her a better writer or a better person.

He has an extremely valid point in his wrathful diatribe of her actions and her melodrama, which, if you follow the literary world at all, has been pretty constant and then ramped up when she finished her final book. Rowlings is the most successful author of this decade, but by no means is she the most successful author of all time, and her works have yet to stand the test of time. She may be the richest author of all time, and perhaps she has the most success of we determine everything by money. (By that argument, though, then none of the "free" muds would be deemed successful, and that is certainly not the case.)

The problem with her current actions is simply that she endorsed this guy. He created a derivative work that she actually used and created an award for. Then she goes and sues him for publishing those works. Then she claims the lawsuit has damaged her. SHE brought the lawsuit. In addition, between her and Warner Brothers, they have sued or pre-emptively sued several other authors, some of which wrote books before the Harry Potter series came out. Card simply points out that Harry Potter has several "plotlines" that could have been directly lifted from Ender's Game, not that "Rowlings had ripped off his plotlines."

Imagine if muds weren't allowed to make Dark Sun muds or Dragonlance muds or Star Wars muds or World of Time muds or Xena muds or Star Trek or Discworld muds, all derivatives from someone else's work. How many muds would immediately tank? Several in the top 10.

Lastly, his statements about Rowling's declaration that Dumbledore was gay after the books initial publication was dead on. If his sexuality wasn't a part of the story, then who the heck cares if Dumbledore was gay or not? It's not a part of the story. Don't make it a part of the aftermath. She wants the credit of having dealt with a "gay" character without ever putting it into the story. That definitely falls into the "lame" category for me.

The quote from Card's views on homosexuality is from this essay:

I'm hard-pressed to decide where he actually stands on the issue from a complete reading of this essay and the comments at the end. This is a guy who's obviously torn on the entire issue.
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